Forgiven and Forbidden
by Blasted Head
Summary: Yama was dumped on the planet Arcadia for an almost-impossible mission to catch an Elf named Harlock. As he lived longer with Harlock, he discovered more about the lonely Elf.
1. Prologue

_Yama was walking in the corridors of Oceanus, two armoured Gaian soldier at his side, escorting him to an escape pod._

 _'They withered,' Yama repeated after he saw his mother's flowers die._

 _'Give up, Yama,' Ezra said, 'these flowers can only grow on earth!'_

 _'Isn't Mum's dream to let these flowers grow on Mars?' Yama was angered. He ran to the wheel sealed with tape with 'danger' writing on it._

 _'Yama!' Nami yelled._

 _'Don't to that, that's insane!' Ezra scolded. But Yama was driven by anger. He turned the wheel._

 _The lights on the ceiling flickered._

 _The conservatory exploded._

They passed another door.

 _'I graduated from the Academy. What do you want to do now?' Yama said to his brother, who was now sitting on a gravity chair. He had been paralysed in the accident._

 _'Go to the planet Arcadia,' Ezra's black eyes were cold; 'find the Elf and catch him.'_

 _What? Yama thought. 'You want me to find a person on a planet? And what are the Elves?'_

 _'Just do it,' Ezra ordered. 'There's only one left in the known universe. Over 80% of Arcadia's surface is covered by the sea, and the Elf never leaves the forest. I'll send you there.'_

 _'His name?'_

 _'S-00999, Harlock, Gaia Sanction most wanted.'_

The two soldiers pushed Yama into an escape pod. Remembering the instructions, he fumbled in his pocket and took out the intercom. One of the soldiers threw a big backpack with camping equipment at Yama's feet.

The door of the escape pod sild shut. The tick following told him he was not on Oceanus anymore.

'You're on your own from now on, F111,' Ezra announced as if they did not know each other. 'We'll check on you three months later.'

'Roger that,' Yama closed his eyes and held his head high. _Will I come back?_

 _Will I be discovered?_

 _Can I find the Elf?_

He prayed to god. If god existed.


	2. In which Yama is rescued

Two weeks.

For two whole weeks Yama had been wandering around a forest which seemed to be endless. Of course, he was smart enough to climb up tall trees to have a better look of the forest and search for any sign of a treehouse, but no, all trees had a similar height and obviously the Elf was smart enough to build his house in the tree crown but not on it, and the forest…well, it was endless. It had looked so small on the map and from space, but it suddenly became so big when he was in it. And he was distracted. Most of the plants were new to him, and being a botanist did not help his self-control. For a whole day he could stay in 100m2 of the forest and study the grass, flowers and trees. He was amazed by the natural greenhouse.

One evening, when he finally decided to leave the area, he stepped onto something. A metal piece.

Wait, he thought, a metal piece in a place kilometres away from my original spot? Then he spotted a light flickering.

It was a mine.

Terrified, he ran to the opposite direction. The mine exploded five seconds later, the wave of heat knocking Yama down. He tried to land on his back, but he twisted too slowly and landed on his right arm which hit a tree root. Pain shot through his flesh and bone and to his ribs. A silent crack told him at least one of his ribs cracked.

Before he could get up, several – and then dozens – of humanoids flooded out from every direction. Abandoning his heavy backpack, he grabbed for his gun and shot down a few humanoids before climbing up a tree. His right arm and the cracked ribs ached in protest, but he simply bit his lips and swung his body to the highest branch he could reach. Everything moved so fast that the world blurred, and that was the reason which caused Yama not seeing the bullet flying towards his left arm. It got him. He let go of the branch because of the pain, and he lost his balance and fell down, landing on his back and gratefully on the grass. His ankle felt twisted.

One of the humanoids seemed to materialise on top of the human, wanting to stab his heart with a rusty knife but missed and the blade passed through the poor man's gut. The pain following the blade ripping out from his body did not stop him from hearing his communicator snapped. He screamed, hot blood staining his shirt. He would die here of blood lost.

The metallic figure disappeared and judged from the footsteps, they were distracted by something more important than Yama himself. With his head on the ground, he could hear bodies – possibly of the humanoids – drop.

He started to feel dizzy, and the pain started to ease. I'm dying, he said to himself, or you can feel it.

He closed his eyes, waiting for the death which never seemed to approach. Suddenly he was lifted up, and the next thing he knew was his head was resting on a warm chest.

Then he passed out.

* * *

Yama woke up and found himself lying on a bed big enough for two and more comfortable than the ones he had ever owned. It was dark outside, but the pale moon was shining in the starlit sky. He quickly realised that he had not taken a proper look at the sky since his arrival because he was too afraid to climb to tallest trees. He then remembered what had happened.

His wound on his gut and his cracked rib started to ache again. His right arm numbed. Luckily his left arm and ankle were okay, or he would kill himself. He shivered, not only because of the memories of the humanoids, but also because of the cold wind blowing in from the large balcony which faced the – was that a valley? – and his nakedness. Gosh, did the person need to undress him completely to take care of his wounds?

He spotted a robe beside his pillow, so he took it without asking and put it on (not without about a dozen curses). It was made of something like silk, but it was much warmer than real silk.

A thought, almost as scary as the scene of Nami being hit by a lamp, washed over his mind. There was only one person except him on Arcadia.

Harlock.

The door located at the far side of the bedroom opened with a creak. A pale man with wavy brown hair wearing a black leather jacket with a white Jolly Roger, a pair of black trousers and boots walked into the room. An ugly scar marred across his left cheek, and where his right eye should be was covered by a black eyepatch.

'How do you feel?' the man asked with his deep, rich voice. He took a bottle of clear liquid (Yama's mind told him it was not water) out from a shelf and sat down at the foot of the bed, facing the human. His movements were graceful, calculated that Yama doubted he could follow the man…or Elf.

'Who are you?' Yama asked, just to confirm his guessing.

The man's head crooked to one side, the hair sliding away to reveal a pointed ear, his expression innocent. 'You don't give your name, and you ask me for my name?'

'That…' the human went speechless. He knew nothing about Elven culture. 'Okay, my name's Yama.'

'Yama,' the Elf repeated several time before he said, 'Harlock.'

'Harlock,' Yama asked as politely as possible, feeling strange after living alone for two weeks, 'did you save me?'

Harlock fixed his gaze on the glass bottle. 'I did.'

'And why? You did not know me.'

'Because you are a friend.'

'But I'm a human.' Ezra had told Yama that a hundred years ago Gaia had a war against the Elves and all Elves (or Elf, since there was only one left) hated humans.

The Elf looked up again, staring at Yama with his amber-brown eye. 'The war has ended long ago,' he said slowly; 'we shan't hold grudges of the past. The – what do you call those? – humanoids – are our common enemy now.'

Yama looked outside, unsure what to speak. Harlock had clearly forgotten Gaia, but Gaia had not, which was totally unfair to the Elf.

If his face showed anything, the Elf did not react to it. Harlock grabbed the rim of the blanket. 'May I?'

Yama flinched. 'What do you want to do?'

'To check your wound, Yama,' the Elf said with a tenderness the human was not expecting from him. 'The humanoids hurt you hard.'

Yama nodded, and Harlock pulled away the blanket, Yama shivered for a while from the sudden cold. When Harlock's hands touched the knot, Yama blushed but failed to say a thing. The Elf looked up, seeing Yama's expression, smiled as if assuring he would not do anything else, and started to loosen the knot. After he had finished, he said, 'Do your best to sit up.'

No embarrassment. No awkwardness. Just like a normal talk between friends. Reluctantly, Yama tried to sit up, but obviously his left arm had not healed yet, so he could do nothing but lying on the bed like a helpless child. Noticing that, Harlock wrapped his arms under Yama's shoulders and yanked him up, pulling the human's weight on him and started untying the bandages.

It took Yama less than a second to know Gaia was wrong with the Elf. Instead of hating him, Harlock had saved Yama. Instead of being an immortal and had a perfect figure, Harlock's face was scared, and his hands were callused. Instead of treating him badly, Harlock's treatment to Yama's wounds were gentler than any doctors the human had ever visited. The longer Yama's body was pressed against Harlock's, the lower the former's cheek dropped, and finally he rested his head completely on the broad shoulder, forgetting his current situation. Each time he inhaled, he breathed Harlock's scene: a mixture of nature and wine, unlike the Elf's scary appearance. Harlock's heart beat strongly against its ribcage, giving the human a feeling that the other would never die, or perhaps he truly was. He was attracted by this Elf. Hell…would he ever have the heart to accomplish the mission?

'There,' Harlock held Yama at arm's length after what seemed like a day. The bottle was empty now. The human found out that his robe was pulled down and his chest and abdomen was exposed. With his face blushed red like an apple, he tugged the fabric back into position and muttered a 'thanks.' To his surprise, Harlock put his hand at the back of his head and put him down gently. The Elf pulled the cover over the human's cheek and ran a hand in his hair like he was a child to be taken care of.

'Have some sleep,' Harlock stood up. 'I'm sure you sleep at night, and rest more can enhance the effect of nectar.'

Yama stared at him, shocked from the sudden absence of the warmth. Harlock sat down again, running his hand in the human's hair, the other closing his eyes.

The Elf started to sing a lullaby in a language Yama neither knew nor understood. He uncontrollably leant into Harlock's touch.

The soft tune of the song and the warmth of Harlock's hand soothed Yama into deep sleep.


	3. In which Yama got a morning call

Yama woke up lying on his left in the morning, awaring of his surroundings. First, he was warm. Second, he was not alone. Third, an arm wrapped around his waist. Forth, his fingers on his left hand were entwined with the ones of the right hand of whoever was hugging him from behind. Fifth, someone had buried his nose in Yama's hair and the human could feel his warm breath on his scalp. There left only one possibility -

\- Harlock.

Behind him, the Elf stirred. After playing with Yama's fingers for a moment, he asked softly, 'Feel like waking up now, my love?'

What the hell? This question rose in Yama's brain. Did Harlock just call him 'my love,' in the softest voice he had ever heard?

'Er, Harlock…' Yama dared not continue. He could not see Harlock's expression, so it was very risky. 'What - '

Harlock jolted up and was standing on the floor the next second, his mouth covering his mouth. 'I'm so sorry, Yama,' Harlock apologised. 'Did I just - '

'Nah, nah, never mind that,' Yama rolled and sat up in his bed, 'I just want an explanation.'

''Tis nothing,' Harlock's eye found a spot near the balcony. 'You...you just look like someone I...know.'

'Someone whom you call "my love"?' Yama flung his legs and sat on the edge of the bed. 'You don't just know him...or her, right?'

Harlock's body turned. 'I'm sorry,' he whispered. If the environment had not been that quiet Yama could not have heard him. His head followed. 'I'm sorry.' Then he proceeded to the door, 'I'll bring you some ambrosia and a set of clothes. You don't have much wounds, so they should have healed already. Your movements proved my point.'

He slipped out from the door, leaving a confused and half-angry Yama alone. Yama was confused because he had not idea at what Harlock was talking about. He was angry not with the Elf but himself because he should not make Harlock think of the things of the war and should have read his file a few more times to get some more details. He faintly remembered that Harlock had had a relationship with someone, but for some reason the person's data was wiped from all the databases he could access.

The mission itself had problems anyway. If Harlock was on the top of the wanted list, why he was ordered to catch, not to kill, the Elf? Why not gave him more information about the Elf's past? Besides, if the Sanction really wanted Yama to catch Harlock, for what?

The door opened again sooner than Yama had expected. On Harlock's right hand there was a stack of clothes, probably similar to the white short-sleeved dress the Elf was wearing, and in the left there was a block no bigger than a nail of something which looked edible. Ambrosia, most likely. Harlock made the human eat the small black of ambrosia before putting the clothes on Yama's lap.

'After you have changed, you are free to explore the place,' Harlock said before he went away again; 'the bathroom is in the cave. Don't go into the forest. The trees are still discussing whether to trust you or not since the explosion killed a few trees.'

Yama obviously had no idea in what Harlock was talking about, but he still nodded. The Elf turned in a graceful movement and disappeared.

* * *

Yama soon found out that his room was situated in a valley. There was rooms similar to his at both sides, some bigger and some smaller. At the bottom there was a river, the sunlight it reflected making it like flowing diamond. After making a mental note to ask Harlock for a pair of shoes (even Harlock was barefoot when he was not in his costume), he went through the corridors and push every door on his way. He found a library and went in, breathing in the smell that only old books could have. Running his fingers on the hardback books, Yama moaned because as far as he could see all the books were written in Elvish, which he did not understand. Still he continued to search. If a war had broken out between humans and Elves obviously there was some human books, or if he was lucky enough, Elven books translated into human language.

'Which kind do you want?' Harlock seemed to appear from nowhere, leaning against a bookshelf with his arms crossed. Although the room was only dimly lit by candles, Yama could see there were scars on the Elf's arms, a sign of an old warrior.

'What do you recommend?'

'...

'I…' Whatever Harlock wanted to say died before his lips.

'Just anything you like. I just want to kill some time.'

'...'

Perhaps he was not good at talking? Yama thought. Or perhaps it had been a long time since he last talked with a person?

Harlock lifted his head slightly. 'You like botany?' he breathed.

'Botany? Yes, of course, I was a botanist,' Yama could not help feeling hopeful.

'Was?'

Oh, Yama thought. He might have been a botanist, but he was a soldier now. He had a mission, and the target was in front of him, not two metres away.

'I was a botanist too,' Harlock whispered softly as he pulled a book out from the shelf next to him, holding close as if it was some treasure, 'and I want to be one again.'

'Why can't you?' Yama asked. 'The forest is around you. Even you can identify all the plants, they evolve.'

'Wounds heal fast,' the Elf handed the book to the human, not letting go until the latter clasped the book tightly with both hands, 'but scars take a long time.'

Yama looked at Harlock's amber-brown eye, surprised to see tears in it.

'What's wrong, Harlock?' he took a step forward. 'You look like crying.'

'Will people remember their past life after transmigration?' Harlock asked, a hint of hopefulness in his voice.

Shocked, Yama's mind went blank for a moment. So the Elf before him believed in transmigration?

'In most cases, no; but a very tiny portion of them, yes, with an extremely low possibility. What's up?'

Harlock did not answer, so Yama turned and walked away.

'I hope you are the one,' he heard Harlock murmur before the door closed behind him.

* * *

Yama arrived the same way as Logan had done: falling from the sky in an escape pod. Except he was not hurt when it fall from the sky. However, he was injured by the humanoids, nearly died of blood lost and woke up again like the accident had never happened.

They looked the same. They heard the same. They had the same hobby.

Except Yama did not remember a thing. No, not a thing, so he did not love him back. After ensuring Yama had gone back to his room, Harlock walked slowly back to his, flinging himself on the bed at once.

He was torn into two. He named them Isky and Zarvelah respectively, because that was who they were: one was too logical that it made her become cold and the other was caring, warm and more emotional.

I told you, Harlock, Isky said, love only make you think wrongly.

Patience, Harlock, Zarvelah then advised; even he doesn't remember his past life, you can still start a new relationship.

Do you think he can at this state? Yama have already known that Harlock has some relationship with someone else.

Shut up, the original Harlock said in his mind. The two voices obeyed and he was left in silence. He sat up, took out a bottle of wine from the cabinet, opened it and started to drink like he had been doing for a century. Like Isky had said, it would not help him in reality, but drinking was a good way to let him escape from reality for a moment.

* * *

On the battleship Oceanus, a person sighed. Harlock screwed the thing up because he had drunk three bottles at midnight after Yama had fallen asleep again.

* * *

Ezra was not surprised to see the youngest crewmember in his quarters. She, according to the information Gaia had about her, was a fifteen-year-old, with no parents and had been living on her own since she was very young. She worked hard, immediately resign as soon as her employer did not pay her, finally found a hotel which was willing to pay her regularly and earned enough money to get her into university at the young age of ten. Not those which helped people find jobs easier, but one provided degrees and further studies. She was intelligent, no doubt, but her intelligence caused her to question everything she thought was wrong, which was what Ezra himself had done a fortnight ago. She listened to almost no orders, ruined the plans she thought were not worth a ship like Oceanus to do and yelled at Ezra, the Admiral himself. The young Admiral had no reason but one to keep her on board: she was the best strategist in the army, even better than the experienced ones like Levery. He also found her black eyes attractive in some ways, especially when she was glaring at him and when she was swinging her sword, so similar to his own, cold, hard and merciless.

'How many times I have told you,' Ezra's changed into a sitting position. There was no need to show his authority in front of the girl since it was completely useless, 'the decision was made, and you can't change it?'

'Twenty-nine, including this,' the dim lights lit up only half of her face. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest. 'I don't care of the life of your baby brother. I just want to know why you didn't tell the Council about this mission.'

Ezra winced despite he knew nothing was hidden from the girl. 'It's none of your business. I can sack you whenever I want.'

'You think I don't know who you're working for?' the girl stood up, towering over the Admiral. 'You think you can hide from me? You are not going to let the Elf be killed, right? You actually want him to survive so that he can share his knowledge with humanity, right?'

Ezra snapped his head, meeting the girl's gaze. There was a smirk on her face. 'How do you know?'

'You all lack of knowledge to Elven mythology,' the girl drew back, took out her card from a pocket and slammed it onto the desk, 'that you are unable to recognise me even I use my real name to join the army!'

Ezra's heart leapt. He went to the desk and took the card.

Of course. Of course she could get into university at the age of ten. Of course she was the best strategist in the universe.

Isky

'What do you want?' Ezra gritted his teeth. 'You know who I am now. We shan't be enemies!'

The smirk on Isky's face became wider. 'The relay point of the humanoids on Arcadia,' the smirk faded dramatically, 'and a chance to wipe Gaia out. If we survive, I'll think of healing Nami and your legs, though I'm sure I won't let you be killed.'

* * *

 **Note:**

Zarvelah will appear soon. Feel free to make a guess.

About Isky, at some point you will know her true identity.


	4. In which both Harlock and Yama admit

Yama sat cross-legged on his bed and flipped over the pages of the book. What shocked him was the handwriting of the translator was 99% similar to his own. The coloured pictures were drawn beautifully. He did not mind the names of the plants being strange; they were Arcadian plants after all. When the sun had half-disappeared behind the mountains, he went to the desk, lit up a lamp and continued to read, unaware that Harlock was watching him from the doorway.

The human's lids started to drop after he had gone over about half of the book. He rubbed his eyes and looked up, just to find Harlock there.

'What are you doing here?' Yama asked as he closed the book. He stood up and walked towards the Elf.

Harlock's head dropped. 'I'm sorry for what happened this morning.'

Yama was stunned, unsure how to react. The Elf had been standing there for hours just to say sorry?

'Why do you apologise?' he asked.

'What I have done isn't right.'

'It...it's okay for me, you don't have to apologise,' Yama put a hand on Harlock's shoulder.

Harlock fixed his gaze on the human's hand in disbelief. 'But it's _not right_ ,' he reached for Yama's hand and pulled it down at Yama's side and holding. His hand was callused but warm, 'even you think it is okay.' He released the human's hand.

'So… Am I supposed to forgive you?'

Harlock answered by staring at the human.

'Okay, then. I...I forgive you,' _Geez,_ Yama thought, _was it_ that _hard to communicate with him?_

The Elf looked at him for a longer time before waving his hand, telling Yama to follow him. The human stayed on his spot, not knowing what to do.

Harlock turned to face Yama. 'Take your book with you. I know a spot where you can see all plants mentioned in it.' He turned again, walking down the corridor. When he realised that Yama was not following, he returned to the human's room and held his hand, tugging it and saying: 'Come on, I'm sure you'll like it.'

'But,' hugging the book close to his chest, Yama wanted to go too, 'it'll get dark very soon.'

'Don't worry, Yama,' Harlock started to pull. 'The moon is bright enough.'

Sighing, Yama knew no matter what he said, Harlock would bring him to the place he had talked about, and in fact he _really_ wanted to go, so he let the Elf guide him.

Yama had decided to trust Harlock anyway.

* * *

'Are we going back now? I'm falling asleep,' Yama yawned. He was sitting with Harlock on the grassland surrounded by the forest, reading the book using the lamp and the silvery moonlight. Harlock watched the human and he could not help but think of the similarity of him and Logan.

'Come here,' he pulled Yama up but found out the eyes of the human were closed already, the book slipping from his hands. Controlling the wind, Harlock held the book in mid-air as he wrapped his arms around the small form. Walking was too slow, so he flew to the treehouse he had built with Logan a hundred years ago, put Yama on the floor, rolled him in a blanket and slipped a pillow under his head, lying down next to the human afterwards. The moonlight added more beauty on Yama, Harlock thought. He reached for the human, but recalling the event this morning, he stopped and rolled to the far side of the house, facing Yama with his back. He tried to shut down any thoughts about Logan which came before his eyes, but he found himself applying them on Yama, and the thought was taking over him. He shut his eyes, trying to go to sleep, but found himself couldn't. He missed Logan, honestly, the deceased human's smile still floating in his mind like a ghost.

A sudden movement of Yama cut Harlock's thoughts. The Elf sat up, finding Yama twisting and rolling around, his brow furrowed. Harlock reflexively hugged him and held his head close to his chest, muttering 'it's okay; it's just a dream's into his hair. Yama slowly relaxed in Harlock's embrace and snuggled deeper into it. Harlock put him down because he was afraid that Yama would be scared again waking up with a body sticking next to him.

A familiar shadow told Harlock about Zarvelah's arrival. The Guardian was leaning against the doorway leading to the balcony with his arms crossed. Harlock stared at the man with tan skin for a while before deciding to have a talk with him. He walked towards the immortal and they sat on the fenceless balcony, their legs dangling in midair.

'He is Logan,' Zarvelah began in Elvish. 'He just fulfil his promise using a different name.'

Harlock did not speak; instead, he looked across the endless grassland. Zarvelah mirrored his action.

Harlock did not want to break the silence, to be honest, but in front of the Guardian, he knew he did not have to hide any feelings.

'He doesn't remember anything,' he said. 'If he does, he shouldn't be that happy in this field. And do you know what happened this morning?'

'I do,' the Guardian replied. He looked up on the sky, the moon reflecting in his black eyes. 'But more accurately, it happened _yesterday_ morning. It's past midnight now. And you had the first nice sleep since ten months ago, right?'

Both male fell into silence and into their separate deep thoughts. It was Harlock who came back to reality first.

'Have you heard about Isky?' he asked.

Zarvelah closed his eyes. After a long time, he reopened them. 'Yes.'

Harlock winced. 'After ten years of disappearance?'

'She just contacted me an hour ago,' the Guardian replied, 'and she brought some news.'

'Good or bad?' the Elf asked. Throughout the years he had learnt about the habit of the other Guardian. Her good news might be bad to him, and her bad news might be good. She was too logical to analyse what were good and what were bad in a normal Elf's perspective.

'Neither good nor bad,' Zarvelah sighed. 'She...she knows the relay point of the humanoids. If you go to destroy it all humanoids will self-destruct together with their weapons and you'll be safe. She is now confirming if the coordinate is real or not, so you still have time to prepare.'

'How does she know that?'

'She refuses to tell,' the Guardian sighed again. 'You know, she always has her own way.'

Again, silence. Harlock suddenly had an urge to jump down and escape from the world he was living in.

'Don't do that, Harlock,' Zarvelah laid a hand on the Elf's shoulder and smiled. 'Logan's back in the form of Yama. Don't waste the hundred years' of waiting.'

'It's useless if he doesn't remember,' Harlock's head dropped. 'I scared him.'

Zarvelah did not answer to that. Harlock knew he was waiting for an elaboration. 'But he was so warm,' he felt tears swimming in his eyes, 'so warm that I can't help myself. I...I can bury myself in that warmth forever.'

'It's normal, Harlock,' Zarvelah pulled the breaking Elf close. 'It's completely normal. As soon as you are an Elf you have emotions.'

Harlock buried his nose into Zarvelah's shoulder. He knew the kind Guardian accepted him no matter what happened to him.

* * *

 _You can come out now, Logan,_ Zarvelah said in his mind, and then a figure, pale and luminous as the moon but transparent, rose from the wooden floor of the balcony, forming into a Memory of a human. The Memory sat down next to Harlock so that the sobbing Elf was between him and the Guardian. He hugged Harlock from behind and laid his head on his shoulder.

 _It's okay, Harlock,_ he closed his eyes as his body started to fade. As a human Memory, he could not stay long if he touched an Elf. _I'll always be there to protect you. Now sleep well, and forget your sorrows._

He disappeared completely. Zarvelah also faded afterwards, leaving Harlock alone without being noticed.

What Harlock needed, they knew, was rest. A very, very long rest.

* * *

 _But he is not allowed to do so until a very long time later, when he has forgotten love can bring happiness,_ Isky checked the pocket watch. Its hands looked like they were not moving at all, but she knew they were moving slowly, so slowly that he still had a long, long time.

And she had no intention to speed it up. She knew Harlock was destined to break the rule of transmigration. To do that, he had to suffer in his mortal life.

* * *

Yama had the worst dream ever.

In his dream, Harlock and a teenage girl were surrounded by humanoids. When they separated, he followed Harlock. The Elf fought bravely even he was outnumbered, but his bravery did not save him from getting hurt. As a stupid humanoid cut his leg, he fell down and the robots were going for the kill. He screamed, trying to help the injured Elf, but without succeed.

The girl finally appeared. With a wave of her hand, all humanoids flew into mid-air and exploded. Harlock, his clothes tattered and his body covered with blood, was laying on the grass, unconscious. The girl yelled at Yama and told him to bring Harlock to a safe place. Scared by her eyes, he picked the Elf up and ran, not stopping until he was out of breath. When he could not hear the gunshots, he carefully placed the Elf on the grass and realised the latter was not injured at all and was wearing the dress.

'It's okay, Yama,' Harlock embraced the surprised human, combing his hair with his fingers. 'It's just a dream.'

'Just a dream…' Yama repeated and closed his eyes, leaning into the warmth. Part of him told him to push away, but part of him knew Harlock truly meant it.

'I like you Harlock,' he muttered before falling into deep sleep.


	5. In which Yama is honest

Isky was enjoying the view of the plain floating in the air when the com link snapped alive.

'Are the coordinates true? I hope the people didn't change anything,' Ezra said. The Admiral suddenly sounded like an ordinary staff officer working for her.

'No, they didn't,' she replied honestly. She had wanted to lie and see the human suffer, but lying was not good. 'I saw it.'

'So… Are you going to hand it to Yama and Harlock?'

Zarvelah appeared floating next to her. She cursed in her heart as her husband mouthed the word 'later.' 'The answer is obvious,' she answered instead. 'I haven't counted and am not planning to, but those humanoids have put many scars on his body and some more on me. I know how much they cost Gaia, but the war is over. People keep their weapons in the deepest dungeon after a war, not using them on innocent people.'

'You call Harlock innocent?' Isky could see Ezra's brow furrow. 'He killed half the army.'

'You unleashed him,' Zarvelah spoke up, 'by killing Logan. If Logan hadn't died, Harlock wouldn't have become the slaughterer of life.'

Isky knew Ezra's eyebrows were knitted tight enough to snap a chopstick into half. 'Who is that?' the Admiral asked.

'I apologise for speaking up so abruptly,' Zarvelah placed his right hand on his heart, closed his eyes and bowed as if the Admiral could really see him. 'I am Guardian Zarvelah, Isky's husband, father of all Elves.'

'So… If Isky is your wife, that make her the mother of Elves?'

'Exactly,' Isky replied before her husband could lead the Admiral to a completely different topic and glared at Zarvelah. 'About the relay point, find me something about its inner structure if possible.'

'Actually,' Ezra cleared his throat, 'the building you saw is probably just a place where the humanoids gather. Inside, it is...a…' his voice faded.

'It's a _what_?' the female Guardian pressed.

'A torture maze,' Ezra replied. 'If you find the right path, you can blow the point out, but if not - '

'You'll die tortured to death,' Isky said. Just a torture maze, nothing to worry about. 'Thank you for the information. You can leave now.'

The link died. Zarvelah turned to face her with a worried look. 'You can't just bring Harlock straight into a torture maze! He's just united with Logan!'

'That's none of my business,' she looked at her emotional husband coldly. 'One day the humanoids still exist on this planet, the war is NOT over.'

'He can DIE!'

Isky took out Harlock's Watch of Life and held it before Zarvelah's eyes. 'Your statement is, sadly, completely wrong. He has a long way to go.'

* * *

Yama woke up to a scream, but it was not from him. Struggling to free himself from the roll of blanket, he jolted up and found Harlock lying two metres away from him, panting as cold sweat coated his forehead. The human ran towards Harlock and held the surprisingly light Elf in his arms like Harlock had done to him when he had a nightmare, massaging the sobbing Elf's temple while breathing 'It's okay's in his hair.

Harlock eventually fell asleep in the human's embrace again. Now, with his puffy eye closed and sleeping ever so peacefully in Yama's arms, Yama finally realised how fragile and vulnerable the Elf's heart was. If a single nightmare could already terrify Harlock that much, how could he fight against large numbers?

A man appeared in the doorframe leading to the balcony. Walking near Harlock, he sat down and ran his hand in his hair. Even though his deep brown eyes were fixed on the Elf, his words were directed to Yama, 'I wouldn't let go if I were you.'

'Who are you?' the human asked.

'Zarvelah, a Guardian,' he smiled as Harlock sighed in his dream.

'Never heard of them.'

'All you need to know about Guardians are there are two of them and they are NOT Elves. Forgive me, but Guardians are the ancestors of all Elves.'

 _No matter Harlock didn't let me go until I accepted his apology_ , Yama thought. 'So I am supposed to hold him until he wake up?'

'Kind of,' the Guardian chuckled. 'Isky, another Guardian, once fooled him with a warm rug, but he is very sensitive to heat, so when he realised that no one was next to him his nightmares came again and woke him up screaming like what you heard. Poor Harlock, always needing to stick to a person.'

'So have you done that before?' Yama asked, raising an eyebrow. 'Like...the whole holding-him-until-he-wakes-up stuff?'

'Mostly after he was too tired to care if anyone's around,' it was Zarvelah's turn to sigh. 'You know...fighting a large amount of humanoids is not an easy job even for an Elf.'

'Why don't you help him?'

Harlock twitched and turned to face Zarvelah with his back, sighed and was stationary again.

'Isky is my wife. She...I have to make sure she doesn't hurt people as much as before. Once she...' his voice died. Shaking his head, he said, 'Never mind that. It's the best not to mention the past.'

Yama wanted to ask, but somehow he did not want to know about what his wife had done. He had a feeling he would not like Isky much, whoever she was.

Harlock frowned and twitched again. Yama changed his position, resting the Elf's head on his lap, an arm draped over his chest. The Elf seemed to relax immediately, not even bothering to hold his head straight and let it roll down as if his neck had broken. Yama fixed it by pushing his head to the right place. 'And have you done all these before?'

'He would have strangled me if Isky hadn't arrived in time and woke him up. He seems to prefer...people who smell like the nature, such as Yama you.'

'I still smell like the greenhouse?' Yama raised his voice, forgetting the slumbering Elf until Zarvelah put a finger on his lips.

'Harlock and I know that you're a Gaian soldier and have travelled on a battleship for a few months before arriving here, but there's something that you just can remove from yourself.'

'But how can he recognise the smell of _earth_ plants? They're so different from Arcadian plants.'

The Guardian's smile faded instantly. He muttered something in Elvish furiously before turning back to the human. 'I prefer _him_ telling you in person,' he stood up abruptly and went straight to the balcony with a few strides. 'The story is more touching in first person.'

Yama turned his head and asked, 'What story?'

The Guardian jumped and he was floating in midair. He turned to face the human, shouting, 'About you two!' and soared into the night sky.

Yama looked at Harlock's peaceful sleeping face and sighed. Putting the Elf's head on the pillow, he lay down next to him, threw the blanket, which was surprisingly big enough for two, over their shoulders and held Harlock's hand.

'Like I said, I truly like you, Harlock,' he pressed a kiss on the Elf's forehead. 'You're kinder than anyone I've met. Good night.'

* * *

Logan appeared kneeling next to Yama. He put a hand on the human's head, stayed there for a couple of minutes and disappeared _into_ Yama.

The branches swayed gently in response.

* * *

When Yama kissed Harlock on his forehead, the Elf froze, couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't think straight. It was exactly what Logan had done after he had failed to save his best friend. _You're a kind person_ , Logan had said, _in fact, much nicer than my family members._

 _No, Logan_ , Harlock had replied, _whether I'm kind or not is not the problem. I could have saved him if I ran faster._

 _You have already done your best, Harlock,_ Logan smoothed out the locks in the Elf's hair with his fingers, _I'm sure Tochiro forgives you._

 _No!_ Harlock punched Logan's shoulder, his fist unable to gather enough strength to cause the human any pain. _I cannot forgive myself!_

A brush of his hair brought Harlock back to reality. 'What's wrong, Harlock?' Yama asked softly, his voice merely a breath. 'You're crying.'

The Elf rested his cheek on the human's chest, unsure how he had fallen asleep on top of Yama and how to answer his question. He could not show his weakness, not more. 'Can you not ask?' he asked instead, closing his eye.

Yama wrapped his arm around Harlock's shoulder and buried his nose in his hair. 'I won't force you to tell me anything, Harlock,' he said gently. 'I do not know why, I just hate to see you sad. You deserves none of it.'

'You don't understand, Yama,' Harlock pushed himself up to a sitting position, breaking all physical contact with the human and immediately regretted the choice when the cold swept in. 'All I bring to those who care about me is misery.'

'Really?' the human sat up and covered the Elf's hand with his. 'Think.'

'You may feel happy now,' Harlock avoided Yama's gaze, 'but eventually you'll end up - '

'Harlock.'  
Yama held Harlock's face in his hands and forced the Elf to look at him. Also a thing Logan had done. 'You feel sad because the love is real. And only real love brings happiness, no matter how short it is. I lose my brother's love, and for a long time I feel sad,' the human smiled, 'but when I realise that however I listen to him, I just can't gain his love back, I let go.'

'So you give up?'

'Sometimes,' the human released Harlock's face, took his hand which had formed into a fist, opened it and entwined their fingers, 'letting go helps you clasp something else.'

Just as patient and accepting as before. Something about it caused a tear to escape from Harlock's eye. Yama wiped it away with a thumb and placed his hand on the nape of the Elf's neck, pressing their foreheads together. 'I say for one more time, I love you. I know it sounds strange to fall in love with someone in such a short time. I...I just remember something that shouldn't be mine, you know, about this treehouse and the field that sort.'

Tears started to run down his cheek freely as Harlock closed his eye. He had known Logan survived in the form of a Memory. He had always known that.

'Now, now,' Yama laughed. 'May I take your eyepatch off?'

Harlock lowered his head to let Yama untie his eyepatch, revealing another eye of his.

'It looks only a little bit mistier than the other one,' Yama said as he stood up to place the eyepatch on the desk. 'Why cover it up? One glance can't tell the difference.'

'Because it's useless. Born like that.'

The human looked at him wide-eyed, trying to catch him in a lie. But he was not lying - he was born with only one normal eye.

'By the way,' Yama settled their heads on the pillow, but Harlock insisted to use the human's chest as his own, 'you want a good-night kiss of that sort?'

Harlock hated to admit it, but he wanted it. Although he wanted to shake his head, he nodded, and their lips touched. Just a few seconds, not a deep kiss, but that was already enough.

Closing his eyes, Harlock asked through the tug of sleep, 'Finally allow me to sleep now?' and held Yama tighter.

No answer came out. Both men fell asleep.


	6. In which Harlock was abducted by Isky

Harlock woke up someone tearing him from Yama's arms. Opening his eye, he was not surprised to see Isky's face. He did not like the Guardian much, so he did not even hesitate when he push her away from his reach.

'Your husband is better than you,' he muttered in Elvish, rubbing his eye. 'At least he won't ruin good moments.'

A usual, Isky did not answer to his complaint. 'Do you want to protect Yama?'

Harlock stared at the Guardian. She was not the type to do such things like protecting people's love ones - she fought only for herself and for all Elves. 'I'm sorry?'

'I find a way to wipe out all humanoids at once. There is a Gaian base somewhere in the forest surrounding the palace. After we destroy it all humanoids will self-destruct.'

Harlock blinked. 'I'm sorry?'

Isky sighed, disappointed with her descendant. 'Once the base is gone, all remaining humanoids explode. Do I make things clear?'

Harlock still did not look warmed up yet. 'The structure of the base - '

'Here,' the Guardian took out a hand-drawn blueprint. 'Don't worry, I won't risk being lectured by that idiot.'

Harlock squinted. Some words made his eyes widen instantly. 'Torture maze?' _No matter why Zarvelah doesn't let you bring me in,_ he nearly added.

'According to that idiot's "advise," it's the best Yama don't know a thing about it unless you get injured. The sun is going to rise very soon. If you want to go, do it now. Change into the uniform, grab your weapons and leave.'

The Elf looked at Yama, who was sleeping peacefully and was still snoring silently. He knew Isky was not that kind of person talking about protecting. He knew no matter what he said, Isky would drag him to the base and he would fight. Besides, he really wanted to keep Yama from any more suffering. If he had not saved him that day, Yama would have died already.

He wanted to keep Yama safe even they barely knew each other. After spending years alone and shivering in the darkest corner and weeping, he had learnt to grasp everything he treasure and never let go even it means costing his life. Yama did not look like he volunteered to this mission to capture him. Like Logan, Yama was probably abandoned by everyone he knew. No one would care even he die.

But Harlock did care. He had seen people suffer from that agony of loneliness. He had seen how loneliness torture and change him into something so different, like a body without a soul in it. Never he was going to let anyone suffer from it again.

He did not have a choice.

Inhaling deeply, he changed into his uniform. Without this uniform, the code S-00999 might belong to someone else. If he had not decided to put on this uniform, he might not be on this world anymore, and instead had died of heartbroken long ago. If he had not put on this uniform, Gaia would not have decided to unleash their army of humanoids onto Arcadia.

Gaia would not have decided to drop the bomb which had killed all his remaining comrades either. Zarvelah once said that Logan's death unleashed Harlock.

And the Elf named Harlock unleashed Death.

He had unleashed Isky from her seal. He had always be the one who did wrongly. Before he joined the ranks of the army, the death rate was not so high.

In the end it was his mistake.

'Isky…' he breathed, as if talking loudly, 'is this...a redemption...for me?'

'No,' the Guardian replied. 'There is but one and only redemption in the world.'

'How?' together with Isky, Harlock walked to the edge of the balcony, ready to jump and fly. Their capes flapped behind them. Harlock see no light in Isky's cape, only pitless darkness. He had always thought she just _reminded_ people of death, but now with more than half her face covered with the hood, he finally understand why she was known as the most fearsome warrior on a battlefield.

He also knew the answer now.

'There is but one and only redemption in the world… Death is redemption. Redemption is death,' he said to himself, but loud enough to let Isky hear. 'I don't have a choice.'

* * *

When Zarvelah arrived at the treehouse, he knew he was already too late. Yama was still asleep under the blanket, but the Elf was not in his arms. He could also find Isky's trace as well. Although no one believed him (not even Harlock), Isky's too-powerful magic always left something behind.

She had brought Harlock to the maze.

Zarvelah knelt down and flipped the blanket to one side. Yama, with his eyes still closed, shot a hand out and tried to get his blanket back. When he grasped some air, he mumbled, 'Stop playing, Harlock.' Clearly he did not know what had happened.

'Yama, wake up!' the Guardian shook his shoulders wildly to wake the human up in the shortest period of time. 'Harlock's gone! Taken!'

The human jolted up and bumped his head on Zarvelah's forehead. Yama rubbed his hand on his forehead and asked, 'Who in universe are you?'

'I'm Zarvelah in Elven mythology,' Zarvelah said like an archer shooting half a dozen arrows at once, 'Harlock trust me, and I want him safe. I think my wife Isky took him away while you're still asleep, to a base left by Gaia and inside the base is a torture maze. I need your help just in case Isky do something she think is smart again.'

'Wait...you mean...Harlock's _caught_? How come? And I thought he's the only Elf in the universe!'

'I'm not an Elf, Yama,' Zarvelah knew he sounded more and more desperate. 'I'm a Guardian, not an Elf and is the ancestor all Elves. My wife in some ways managed to convince Harlock to go to the base so that they can wipe out all humanoids! AND INSIDE THE BASE IS A TORTURE MAZE, HARLOCK CANNOT SURVIVE THAT!'

Yama stared at him wide-eyed, finally looking awake. 'No idea at the Guardian and your wife thing,' he said, 'but I know Harlock's abducted to a place where he shouldn't go to by her, isn't it?'

'Abducted' was not exactly the word Zarvelah would use, but he don't have the time to care. Saving Harlock was the first priority.

'Where is the base?' Yama asked.

The Guardian lifted the trapdoor. Underneath was a rope ladder leading straight to the ground. He shot the human a look, and the latter followed him.

* * *

Isky's com link snapped alive. 'Good news, Isky,' Ezra reported. 'I managed to shut down half of the torture machines.'

Isky sneaked a peep across her shoulder. There was a fog clouding the pathetic Elf following her's eye. He was too deep in thoughts. Two floating screens appeared in front of her, shining a bright-blue. 'Give me the map.'

Some machines glowed red. 'The others are out of control. I'll try to shut them down - '

'No, thanks. I know how to go in - '

'But some of them are - '

'I hacked into the computer of the base and got the full map including the secret corridors. There's enough to let me get in and out unscathed,' although Ezra could not see her now, she smirked. 'I'm freer than you, Mr Admiral.'

Ezra sighed and cut the line. She never lost an argument with the human.

She had never lost an argument with Harlock as well. She seldom came back to Arcadia since the beginning of the war. But one day many of her great-great-grandchildren summoned her. Feeling strange since there had been ten years since this had happened, she went back to Arcadia.

'Lady Isky!' those Elves knelt down before her. 'It's Harlock!'

She had already heard about the young Elf. Allergic to nectar when he drank it, he had studied medicine very hard and became the most skillful healer among the Elves. With his strong body, he could have joined the army and fight on the front line, but instead he just helped the soldiers to rescue the wounded and heal them. A waste of his gift, and too kind at the same time.

'I guess he becomes a good man again?' she asked.

The Elves nodded. 'We thought he went back just to pick up some bodies the team left, but no, he saved a human who he claimed to have been tortured by his own kin and abandoned him.'

She had known the healer was kind, but not like that. He hated the humans because the war kept his only friend busy. 'Perhaps he just want to test the poison on the human?'

'No, no,' one Elf answered. 'The human is recovering. Harlock doesn't allow us go into his room, where the human is staying. Even Tochiro can't go in freely now. He's even teaching the human our language, my Lady. Talking about reading and writing!'

She could hear no lie in her great-great-grandchildrens, so she ordered them to lead them to the healer's room. She found Tochiro standing with leaning against the door. He nodded at her, turned and raised his voice, 'Harlock, Lady Isky wants to see you.'

Isky did not wait. She opened the door right away.

Harlock was sitting on his bed, holding the human like the latter was a baby. The human was sleeping, completely unaware of the Guardian's visit despite her greatest efforts to wake him up by sending nightmares into his brain. He merely curled up tighter and snuggle deeper in the healer's embrace. Harlock planted a kiss on his forehead and the human relaxed again. The Elf fixed his eye on her, gaze turning from tender to alert. 'Why won't they listen to me?' he asked. 'Even Zarvelah is at my side.'

She kept her face blank. So her idiotic husband encouraged him to do so? 'Where did you find this human?'

'In the forest five days to the east.'

Truth. 'How was he?'

'Very weak. Almost fall into your hands.'

Truth. 'His wounds?'

'Deep. Ugly. Whips, burns, broken bones and wounds caused by the small metal they use to shoot at us. I forgot their name.'

Truth again. 'Those are called bullets. Are you teaching him reading, writing and speaking our language?'

'Yes.'

'Why?'

'The answer is obvious.'

'That can put all of us in great danger.'

'He's abandoned by his own kin!'

'This can be a disguise.' _Even it isn't._

'This is not!' Harlock snapped. 'I've talked with him!'

'He can lie.'

'Even he did, I'll make him change his mind!'

She kept calm. 'What makes you so sure?'

Harlock pressed his lips into a thin line. 'They call you.'

'It has been a decade since so many Elves call me at the same time concerning about the same matter.'

The human stirred. This time even Harlock could not put him back into sleep. He rubbed his eye and focused only on his rescuer. 'How long have I slept?' he asked in an accented Elvish, but it was better than a child's. At least he spoke clear enough for the Guardian to hear.

Dramatically, Harlock's expression changed again when he looked at the human. It seemed the Elf had his priority set very clearly. The healer's relationship with the Guardian was not good anyway. 'Twelve and a half hours, Logan,' he squeezed a smile. 'Half a day.(1)'

Isky focused in the human who called Logan's mind. Indeed, there were true memories of being tortured. In first person view. She turned and left the room, while the Elves who called her were already becoming inpatient. 'I can see no lie in both of them,' she said to them. 'It's safe to keep them here.'

Some of the Elves scowled at her. Tochiro let out a sigh of relief.

She went to Mars after that. Zarvelah told her not long after that that Harlock and Logan fell in love and again, their great-great-grandchildren were furious. The lovers built themselves a treehouse far away from Harlock's original home for them to escape from reality for a short time before deciding to move back. Harlock discovered that Logan loved botany and taught him medicine. They became the best healers in the army.

Isky woke up from her form of sleep. They were nearly there.

A humanoid appeared. And then a dozen. And then hundreds. Harlock immediately unsheathed his sabre and cut them into half. Isky easily reflected the laser beams and wiped out about five dozens of humanoids.

'How can there be so many?' the Elf started to panic. 'The base looks so small!'

She smirked, draining even more colour from the already-pale face. 'That's why I bring you here, Harlock,' she said. 'To teach you a lesson.'

* * *

(1): There was twenty-five hours in a day on Arcadia.


	7. In which Yama sees things

Yama was not sleepy anymore. Once he dropped himself on the ground, his clothes transformed into a uniform similar to Harlock's, and finally he got a pair of boots to protect his feet. He followed the man who called himself Zarvelah through the forest, making sudden twist and turns to avoid areas where the ground was covered with tree roots.

'Is your wife a good person?' Yama asked quietly.

'She is, but she's too honest to be one,' Zarvelah answered as quietly. 'She's in charge of all Watches of Life.'

'Watches of Life?'

'When the hand on the watch runs a full circle, an Elf dies. When the hand runs another full circle, the Elf is born again. We call this transmigration. Isky...my wife...she always says that Harlock is going to break this rule and save all Elves from transmigration. To do this, Harlock has to suffer. A lot. And...' he shook his head. 'It's the best you don't know this.'

'But you do?'

Zarvelah nodded, ashamed of the thought.

'Are gods always keeping secrets from human?'

'That's why Elves think Isky is a bad Guardian,' the Guardian explained, knowing they still had a long way. 'She doesn't know how to lie, and neither does she know why Elves need to lie. You know...sometimes, or, more accurately, always, truths are terrible...'

'Indeed,' Yama breathed. He had not want to injure his brother and Nami, but he did. It was the truth. 'But...how did you wife know the location?'

'Again, she refuses to tell,' the Guardian sighed.

Yama sighed as well. 'How do you become her husband?'

Zarvelah felt a lump on his throat; last time he felt it was a hundred years ago, right after Logan's tragic death, when Harlock locked himself in his treehouse and wept and moaned his lost, with some stubborn-minded old Elves gloating on the ground about how foolish Harlock was to fall in love with an enemy and ended up like this. Those Elves died shortly after that in a battle. He had tried to scold his great-great-grandchildren for it, but Isky would not let him. 'Just watch,' she told him.

Harlock locked himself up for three days and nights, neither eating nor drinking and grieving Logan, while Isky acted oddly, visiting him every day. When Zarvelah finally got the courage to visit the Elf, he found him with his wife. Isky was standing up and Harlock knelt on one knee in front of her, his long hair obscuring his eyes. When he spoke Zarvelah heard his voice break.

'I...I don't know… If you don't - I am not allowed to die, wh...what can I do? No one except Zarvelah...and you...wants me. Even Tochiro is gone.'

'Why do they die, Harlock?' as Isky spoke a chill rolled up Zarvelah's spine. It was the tone Isky used when she pull someone into her control.

'The humans,' Harlock replied. 'They killed them.'

'Then what do they die for?'

'They…' Zarvelah saw a tear dropped onto the floor. 'Logan died...to let me live.'

'How about Tochiro?'

'He...he tried to protect all of us from humans.'

'So he fight against humans.'

'I...I think so.'

'Then finish the work for your friend.'

Harlock looked up and blinked, unsure what he had heard.

Isky twisted her hand. Smoke shot out from her palm, some of it forming a sabre, the rest wrapping around the Elf kneeling before her, forming the uniform of the most feared team on the battlefield, led by Isky herself. Harlock's eye widened, and then dropped his head again. 'I...I can't do this.' he muttered. 'I can't bring myself to kill anyone with weapons.'

'You can't?' the Guardian asked. 'Everything in a skilled warrior's hand can be a weapon.' She held the sabre out.

With trembling hands, Harlock reached towards the weapon offered to him. Zarvelah yelled 'No!' but the Elf did not seem to be listening. When Harlock wrapped his hand around the grip, the sadness and agony in his eye was gone, replaced by hatred and coldness similar to what the male Guardian could see in his wife's eyes, and he knew it was too late - Harlock was doomed and had become a twisted Elf.

Harlock sheathed the sabre. Standing up, he saluted to Isky.

'Harlock. At your service.'

Then there was a boom, pulling Zarvelah back to reality. There should not be any explosions, since they still had a long way to go if they continued to walk on foot. He looked around, and a chill rolled up his spine.

Yama was nowhere to be seen. All because he had been dreaming of something bad.

* * *

Yama knew he was knocked out when the force slammed him on a tree, but he could not explain what he was seeing. Harlock was sitting in a tree by the riverbank with a human who looked like Yama, but he knew it was not him. The person was a little bit shorter, perhaps a little bit younger also. And they were smooching each other. Yama felt his face burn, but he could not move. He was forced to watch the lovers' heated kiss slowing down, and finally they stopped, the human burying his face in Harlock's chest.

'Can't believe you can kiss so well,' the human said with his eyes closed. The corner of his lips twitched up in contentment. Harlock slipped an arm beneath his knees and scooped him onto his lap. The human snuggled deeper into the Elf's arms. 'Can I just fall asleep here?'

Harlock's smile widened. 'You know I like watching you sleep,' he said before wrapping his arms tighter around the human.

They sat like that for a moment. 'Hey, Harlock.'

'Logan?'

'Have you ever fought in a battle?'

The Elf's smile faded. 'I can't fight, Logan. Like you, I'm just a botanist and a healer. I don't like fighting.'

'Me neither,' Logan said. 'And that's why I like you. I hope you can stay like this forever.'

The world twisted. Harlock was digging what Yama assumed was a grave. Logan was standing next to him, silently giving support to the Elf. There was a coffin next to them. After Harlock had finished, Isky appeared from nowhere. Logan seemed to sense what would happen and pulled Harlock away from her. With a tick of her fingers, the coffin floated in the air and flew into the hole. Another tick, and the mud covered it once more. Logan's gaze focused on the brown soil and some grass covered it again. A tree extended its root to where the body was.

'He's a good man, that Tochiro,' who Yama assumed was Isky muttered. 'Finding out a way for us to use human technology safely.'

The scene changed. Logan was sleeping in the very bed Yama was using. Harlock sat on a chair next to it, but he was weeping into the sheets, then Yama knew what was happening. Outside, the human could hear people laughing as if celebrating Logan's death. Zarvelah flew in through the balcony and landed next to Harlock. The Elf stopped weeping and said, 'He's gone.'

Zarvelah peeled Harlock from the sheets and took the Elf in his arms. The latter broke into tears once more.

Again, Harlock was digging a grave. This time it was located under the treehouse Harlock had brought him to. The Elf was alone, crying as he shoveled the soil away. The body next to the grave was Logan's. Yama's heart twisted into knots, not understanding why a person had to bury his lover himself. By the time the Elf was finished, he knelt down and wailed leaning against the shovel for support. Zarvelah and Isky came, the latter taking care of what Harlock did not have the courage to do while the former scooped the Elf up and cradled him in his arms. The ground shook, and the next thing Yama knew was that the forest in front of the treehouse was gone, blown up by a bomb. Burnt corpses of Elves littered all over the place. Standing next to Yama, Harlock, in his uniform, took his head in his hands, knelt down and howled.

Then Yama was in the room where he was living. Harlock took out a knife from the cupboard and started to cut his wrist. The human wanted to yell at him, but his voice and his whole body was not working. Harlock dropped the knife onto the floor, closed his eyes and slowly proceeded to his bed, blood dripping down onto the floor and soaked the sheets. With the good hand, Harlock pulled away the duvet and climbed in bed. The thing that scared most was the smile on Harlock's lips when he slipped away, like he finally could have some good sleep. Somewhere behind him, Zarvelah bursted in and realised he was too late. The Guardian cursed in Elvish and started to treat Harlock's wound. When the Elf woke up, he tried to remove the bandages but failed as Isky was pushing him down. Harlock broke into tears again, begging the Guardians to let him die and join Logan.

Darkness came, and then Harlock was drinking something Yama assumed was wine directly from the bottle. Finishing the wine, Harlock opened another bottle and downed it. The human watched the Elf harming himself with alcohol until the Elf could not even stand straight. He collapsed onto the floor, giggling and draped an arm on his stomach like he was holding someone close to his chest. He looked down like a person was there, and tears escaped from his eye. Reaching closer to his neck, the Elf brushed something in the air like he was running his hand in a person's hair. 'You're back,' he said.

Harlock was hitting his head against a wall, counting as he repeated the same thing over and over again. Blood and tears covered his face, but he was still alive.

 _Bang._ 'Twenty-one.'

 _Bang._ 'Twenty-two.'

 _Bang._ 'Twenty - '

'WHAT ON ARCADIA ARE YOU DOING?' Zarvelah pulled Harlock away from the door and flew under the tree next to the riverbank. A wet towel appeared in the Guardian's hand. Settling the Elf on his lap, he wiped the blood away. Another rug appeared and he put it on Harlock's forehead. Harlock did not even have the strength to struggle.

Someone slammed Yama's head again, and the human woke up. Sitting up panting, he studied his surroundings. Trees, trees, and more trees. No sight of the Guardian. As his breathing slowed down, he finally heard it - someone was crying. Looking up, he found a ghost - yes, ghost, not person - sitting on a tree branch.

It was Logan.

Yama climbed up the tree. The ghost definitely saw him, but the former kept sobbing even as the human settled himself next to him.

'I'm sorry,' Logan said as he wiped a tear away.

Yama did not know how to respond, so he kept quiet.

'I could just watch. I can't even touch him. He can't see me even I'm looking at him directly in his eye.

'If I enter his dream just for once, he will hurt himself and pass out of blood lost, but...you know, seeing him hurting himself is the most heartbreaking thing I've ever seen… He wasn't himself. The day when he went on the battlefield for the first time… Do you know what I saw? He was crying - his eye might look murderous, but he was pained - I know the expression because I've seen that before. When every enemy was killed he fell onto the floor and cried - how can Isky be so cruel? He's so lonely. He doesn't want that at all.'

The ghost faced the human. Yama nodded, getting the message. He watched Logan fade away.

He could see one message in Logan's eyes. A very clear one.

 _Please, Harlock is just a botanist, why does he need to be a warrior? I just want the botanist Harlock who is kind and soft and don't even have the courage to wound a person back! Please. I just want him to be happy like before. Is this that demanding?_

'Yama!'

The human looked down and saw Zarvelah standing under the tree, looking even more desperate than before. 'What happened?'

Yama climbed down. 'I saw Logan. He showed me how Harlock was like...before.'

Zarvelah gripped the human's shoulders tight. 'You'll explain later,' he released the human again. Then the latter realised that there was a hint of orange in the sky. 'I've searched for you for two hours.'


	8. In which Yama and Zarvelah are late

Even though Yama had tried hard to convince himself, he started to believe that he and Zarvelah had lost their way. The trees seemed to gather together, blocking their way and making them trip over their roots as if trying their best to slow them down. Branches shifted, obscuring the sky and making Zarvelah hard to fly. The trees seemed to whisper.

'Harlock used to come here with Logan when they felt like having a break,' the Guardian explained. 'After Logan had died, he always come here after he was saved. They'll do everything to make him feel happy.'

'Even though it will get him killed?' Yama asked. That did make sense.

The Guardian nodded. 'Yes.'

The human swore the trees had swung harder than they should be. 'Can we ask them to give way?'

The leaves crowded together even more. Zarvelah shot him a look of disapproval. Yama's gaze found the ground for only a short moment, but when he looked up again Zarvelah was gone. The human stopped dead.

'Zarvelah?' he asked, as first quiet, but after a few times he got more and more hopeless and he started to yell, like a little kid who had lost his parents in a mall.

Suddenly it was so quiet. Yama could hear his own heart beating slowly. And the trees...they looked different. Where the hell was he?

He dared not move, because by doing so at least the Guardian could have a chance to find him.

Until he heard a scream.

* * *

Isky did not feel anything when Harlock was surrounded by humanoids. A flip of her finger caused dozens of those machines flying and exploding in midair, but that did not help the Elf escape from the sea of murderers. She watched blades and bullets pierce her descendant's body and blood pouring out from the wounds, darkening his black uniform. His shocked gaze was kept fixed on her until the visible eye closed, losing balance and falling onto the ground on his back. That was actually a good thing, because without his body blocking her energy waves, she could easily slice the humanoids into halves. WIth a wave of her hand, the robots flew high up in the air and exploded in dozens of fireballs.

' _WHERE THE HELL IS HARLOCK?_ '

The voice was the human's. Isky turned and only saw Yama. No sight of her husband, which was actually a good thing. She flipped a finger and the humanoids which tried to kill the human exploded, creating a mist which allowed both Isky to see and Yama's vision to be blocked. She found Harlock lying on the ground, his wounds already recovering. He was not allowed to die yet, not now. Pulling him up, she draped his arm across her shoulder and forced him to walk on his feet. He opened his eye.

'Did...did I just hear Yama?' he asked.

'Yes, he was there,' the Guardian answered and glanced at his general direction, 'but not anymore. He's safe.'

'What do you mean by "safe"?'

'No humanoids will do him harm.'

'Good,' he said and pushed himself away from the Guardian. 'So...where are we going now?'

Isky crooked her head towards the building in front of them. Cutting a humanoid in half and throwing it towards the door, it exploded, creating an entrance. Harlock could see the moving machines inside the facility. 'In,' was the simple answer.

* * *

Before the mist had even cleared, a hand pulled Yama back. Zarvelah was there, standing next to the human with a worried look on his face.

'You okay?' the Guardian asked.

'Your wife,' the human grabbed the immortal's shoulders tight. 'She took Harlock away.'

'I know,' Zarvelah waved his hand and cleared the mist. Isky and Harlock had gone already. 'But if we make haste, we might catch up with them.'

They flew through the woods, unable to hear anything apart from their beating hearts and roaring wind. Yama's vision blurred, the green and brown and orange and yellow melted together like an artist had accidentally brushed his fingers on the canvas and ruined his masterpiece, but the Guardian seemed to know his way, zigzagging between the trees and flying up and down to dodge the branches, which, in Yama's opinion, were disturbing. He had known Zarvelah for less than 6 hours after all.

'I understand you fears, Yama,' the Guardian's voice was surprisingly clear, 'but I hope you can trust me. I don't know what Isky will do to him. She herself is actually powerful enough to destroy the base on her own without any help.'

'Then why did she drag Harlock with her?'

The Guardian fell into deep thoughts, not speaking until what seemed like a whole hour later.

'They bargained. At that time, the older Elves didn't like Logan much. One day, Harlock went out with the army and left Logan alone, and they hurt him with all kinds of spells and potions and physical weapons. When Harlock discovered it after he had returned, he was furious and allowed no one get close to Logan, not even the other healers. But Logan was hurt so badly that he was dying, and although Harlock had searched every book he should and should not read, he still couldn't find a way to heal except for one all-powerful medicine,' he stopped there.

'What?'

'Isky's blood.'

'What?!'

'That's ironic, right? One has to make a deal with her to get it, and according to past experiences her offers were so harsh that it scared off most people.'

'But not Harlock.'

'Right. Isky asked him to do one quest for her.'

Yama's eyes widened in realisation. 'To break the rule of transmigration.'

Zarvelah nodded. 'Correct. After Harlock had obtained her blood, he mixed it in Logan's favourite juice and let him drink it. The others thought he wanted to give Logan his last refreshments, but no, his wounds started to heal without any treatment. His voice, appetite and strength all returned. He even sat up and read the book Harlock had brought to him. A week after that Logan was as good as before, working for the army as Harlock the healer's assistance. The Elves knew what happened, and they were just shocked. They couldn't believe that Harlock loved Logan so much that he wound suffer for him, a mere human. They thought humans had short lives and wanted Harlock to wake up. Their plan didn't work, so...after this incident they hated each other even more. I...I think this mission is part of the suffering.'

'So…' Yama had to use 99% of his strength to keep his voice from shaking, 'Harlock sold his soul to your wife to save...me.'

They plunged into a heavy silence. So...Harlock shouldn't be the one who would break transmigration from the beginning. He did that for him.

'But why would he do that?' the human asked. 'He doesn't look like the type to sacrifice everything for love.'

'I could only guess,' Zarvelah sighed. 'Since he was born, Harlock didn't have much friends… With his physique everyone just expected him to join the army, but he didn't. He instead studied botany and became a healer. Said he couldn't bring himself to harm others. That disappointed nearly all, but they could only watch. They thought he wasted his gift, but he answered with a rare kindness even in the Elves' standard. He never went into fights and would heal whoever came to his door even they were the older Elves. He was the most tender Elf I have ever known, and that's what he should be. What you see now is unreal.'

 _Unreal_ , Yama repeated in his heart. The Harlock who had saved him from the humanoids was not himself. The original Harlock was the one who put him into sleep by singing a lullaby, brought him to the field and at the same time had nightmares when sleeping alone.

'So should I be the one fighting?' he asked.

The Guardian sighed again. The human had already lost count of how many times he had sighed. 'He won't let you. If he loses you again because of his fights, he…' his voice died as the image of Harlock lying in his bed and weeping all day long and refusing to eat a thing reappeared in front of his eyes. He shook his head and cleared his sight. Looking up, he said, 'We've arrived.'

Yama followed his gaze and grabbed the immortal's arm tight, his nails digging into his flesh.

The door was jammed open, and there was blood on the machines. Zarvelah muttered a few curses in Elvish and pushed Yama up to a nearby tree so that he could see the whole base clearly.

'Stay here!' the Guardian yelled. He took out an earpiece from his pocket and forcefully placed it on Yama's right ear. 'Tell me if you see them.'

'And you?' the human yelled.

'I'll search for Harlock. I don't care if Isky will disappear for three more centuries; I am her husband, and I have the responsibility to stop this nonsense.'


	9. In which the world tilts

Isky was gone. They had separated in a crossroad, and Harlock, instead of flying forward, turned and flew towards the exit, escaped from the cursed place and out towards the field. He expected to find Yama there, but the human was nowhere to be seen. Well, perhaps he just went to the river not far away to take a dip; Logan had liked that, and judge from his observation, Yama was nothing different from his former self. Good, that only made things better.

He got rid of that tight uniform and put on again a loose dress. He climbed down the ladder and slowly walked through the large field of flowers, occasionally bending down to pick up flowers of various sizes. He started making a flower clown as he proceeded towards the river with a smile on his face.

Yama was going to like it, he was sure. He continued to imagine how Yama would react until he heard the gunshot, so close that his head shot up at once.

A dark-haired human was pointing a gun at the person lying on the ground. Blood swept out from his wounds, but it was the identity of the wounded man which made Harlock totally forgot what he was going to say.

He launched himself onto the ground and held Yama in his arms. The human lifted his eyelids, revealing the tearful eyes underneath the skin.

'Harlock…' he breathed, lifting his hand and trying to caress the Elf's cheek. The called one helped him by grabbing his hand and holding it where the human wanted it to be. 'I'm sorry. I… should've stayed in the treehouse.'

'It's fine, Yama. You're going to be fine.' _Because you're going to leave this world. At the other side there was nothing that could separate us._

'Harlock…' Yama repeated. 'Harlock…'

'Yes, Yama?'

'Thank you.'

The Elf's heart skipped a bit. He had brought nothing but death to Yama, the man whom he loved so much. 'But I have given you nothing.'

The human shook his head slightly. His face was even paler than Harlock had remembered, and his breath was getting shallow. 'You know...ever since the accident in the conservatory on Mars...I have never been happy again...until I met you. You...I may not know you well, but...but I think it's worth all the suffering before to gain this,' a faint smile. 'Promise me...be happy, okay? Do everything to help yourself...I don't mind you finding another person, really.'

 _I can't, Yama. I never can,_ the Elf had wanted to say, but instead he gently placed the flower clown on Yama's head, held him in his arms and stood up. Harlock took a look at the human who had shot Yama, burnt the image of the man into his brain and turned and left.

'He isn't worth your kindness,' the man said.

Harlock never spoke to him.

* * *

Isky zig-zagged and ducked the machines. This pathetic maze was called a 'torture device'? Pah, even a normal Elf soldier could easily pass this test. If she had known it, she would have brought less weapons and could fly faster despite she could just summon one with just her thought.

Swords sliced through the machines. They exploded into a hot, bright fiery ball, but heat never bothered her. She had been normal long before, but a part of her brain decayed throughout the long war between Guardians and Peacemakers and there was only two things she could feel: the primitive desire to survive and the anger which drove her to becoming a heartless Guardian hated and feared by many.

She did not even remember why she married Zarvelah. The Peacemakers theoretically did not lost - they simply escaped to another planet and settled there.

The planet was named earth. Their descendants who called themselves humans and had no idea about their past somehow managed to return to Arcadia for nothing but another war. And somehow, just somehow, after all those stories about the other Guardians and the war, Harlock managed to rescue instead of abandoning a wounded human. Kindness...pfft. She was lucky that she could not feel that. Zarvelah always told her that she would need emotions, but seeing Harlock… He was still that stupid as she had remembered. Yes, like Zarvelah had said, Harlock was indeed kinder than anyone she had known (according to the faintest memories when she still could feel), but that brought him doom also.

Her hand went into her pocket for her watch. She always brought three, one for timekeeping and the other for checking Harlock's status. She stopped abruptly, raised her hand to tear a robotic arm away and pulled out the only watch she had.

It was the one for timekeeping. The other were nowhere to be seen. Squinting, she searched for any trace for the missing watch.

'ZARVELAH!'

* * *

Zarvelah quickly fumbled open Harlock's watch. There had to be a way to speed it up so that he could suffer less. He once stole a glance at Yama/Logan's watch, immediately embedded the image in his mind and calculated according to the speed of the legs and its position to the next Midnight.

If he had remembered correctly, Yama had only few days left. He would not allow Harlock to suffer, not after what he had gone through this century and what the Guardian had remembered about the Elf.

His wife being a total arsehole did not mean that he had to be one as well.

He had been the observer of everything, how Isky, her parents and their friends fought the Peacemakers, how Isky and he became the last of the Guardians while the others perish to end the war, how the descendants of Peacemakers returned to Arcadia as humans, how Isky managed to pollute the purest mind among the Elves, their descendants.

He prayed to the dead Guardians to gain more time. It was just a matter of few minutes before Isky would realise that Harlock's watch was gone; she had been ultra-sensitive to their presence ever since Harlock became the last living Elf in the universe.

He finally managed to open the watch. Inserting a screwdriver into one of the numerous gears, he spinned furiously while keeping watch on the leg.

It did not seem to move at all after three minutes.

'Isky…' he found himself muttering. He let go of the screwdriver and set it to auto-spinning. There had to be a way to speed this up.

'C'mon, c'mon, do help me…' he prayed to the deceased Guardians. 'I know you guys like Isky, but she is different now…'

' _I am, Zarvelah._ '

A blow so powerful that it could only come from his spouse knocked him hard onto the floor. He lost hold on the watch and it flew back to Isky's gloved hand. Isky closed it while the screwdriver spun in midair under her control. He caught a gesture like she was squeezing something, and then it exploded into millions of small pieces, the metal part reflecting the bright light which hurt his eyes.

He failed.

The other Guardian checked the watch and put it back to her pocket. Their gaze locked, and a chill ran up Zarvelah's spine.

Isky's eyes were filled with venom and anger with a slight shade of disappointment. She was not the Isky he knew back then at the dawn of the war against the Peacemakers, or humans, in modern perspective.

She was no different from the Gaians. Cold, blood-thirsty and selfish.

He refused to believe in it. Something had gone wrong during the entire history.

'You are not Isky,' he spat in a tone as angry as possible. Being kind to others obviously could not help him in this scenario.

'I may not be the Isky you know,' a flip of her hand and a black sword appeared in midair. She seized it and walked towards her husband. 'But I am Isky indeed.'

'You're a Gaian,' he replied as he struggled to get on his feet. 'Your deeds are not a Guardian's.'

She examined her blade. 'We're not the same. We Guard different things.'

'No Guardian is as cold as you!' Zarvelah used all his will not to summon a weapon. 'We Guard! Protect! Not destroy! Not kill!'

'Not destroy, not kill, _right, right_ ,' the sarcasm in her voice was enough to make the male Guardian feel uneasy. 'Unfortunately, that is for all Guardians…' cold, piercing gaze snapped towards him, draining all the blood from his face although it was not so visible from his tan skin; 'all except for one.'

Zarvelah's heart raced. Sweat both from the pain and the fear covered his body, and if he were not a Guardian had had centuries, he might just die right there from the aura radiating from Isky.

He felt as though a rod had snapped in his heart. The next thing he knew was that the muscles on his right hand was tight, forming into the shape of an animal's claw. A silver sword appeared in midair, and then he grabbed it and positioned himself in case Isky might attack him.

'You've gone too far even as the Guardian of _Anmingverse_ ,' his said while his arms trembled from the lack of practice on using any kinds of weapons. 'Although you see the _Heukunverse_ as a child's chessboard, the lives on it ARE NOT CHESSES!'

'For what, though?'

This question hung in the air like Logan's ghost. No one had ever laid their hands on a Watch before, not to mention _altering_ one person's life cycle, because doing so would upset the balance between _Heukunverse_ , the world they were currently in, and the _Anmingverse_ , the other world where souls were waiting for another chance to go back to _Heukunverse_. Now he tried to change Harlock's life cycle, _he_ became the one who upset the cycle.

In some ways, Isky was the one who was really Guarding something.

'You try to help Harlock even though it angers me. Why.'

The couple walked in a circle, gaze never getting of each other. They kept their distance from their should-be love ones.

'You are heartless and I am not. That's the difference between us,' he stuck the sword into the soil.

It only took him one second to realise that he had made a terrible mistake.

Isky's sword appeared on his heart. Pain erupted through his body, and in less than a minute he could feel no more. Before he completely lost his conscious, Isky received her blade.

'I am Isky, the Guardian of the two Verses. Everything is under my rule, including you.'

* * *

Ezra was lost in the forest. Isky had told him the way _in_ but not the way _out_. The trees seemed to have moved, and there was no trace for the previous path.

He should not have trusted Isky. And somewhere on Mars, Nami was undergoing the operation which would either kill her or heal her.

'Sir,' a voice said through the intercom.

'What's up?'

'The operation failed.'

A 'What?' nearly escaped his mouth. Luckily he held it.

'I'm sorry, your Admiral.'

'Thank's for telling me. You may leave now.'

The link went dead.

Isky… _Bitch…_

'If you join a bet, it means you know you can lose.'

He tried to reach for the gun on his side. A gunshot. Ezra felt pain from his hand...or what remained of it. Half of his palm was gone, and blood which hurt like lava flowed out from the mess of burnt flesh. He screamed and fainted from the pain.

* * *

Isky stared at the unconscious Admiral of Gaia Fleet. Perhaps she would keep him alive. Perhaps not. He was too stupid to do any good in this Verse, but he would not do better in the other either.

Just like Logan.

Just like what Yama would be. Just like what Harlock would be as well.

She chose to kneel down next to the human, send an SOS using his communicators and leave.


End file.
